In the realm of both smartphones and tablets, a battle is raging between Apple and Android. Apps for almost every platform can be found in a central location: the App Store. But where does the money you spend actually go?
Smartphones are already fully established and are surpassing regular mobile phones in sales figures. According to an estimate by Growth from Knowledge (GfK), around 3 million smartphones will be sold this year. Last year, this figure was 2,1 million.
Apps continue to evolve
The word "App" was chosen as the Word of the Year in America in 2010. Apple's App Store opened in July 2008. More than 10 billion apps have already been downloaded from this store.
With 333.000 iPhone apps, the App Store has the largest selection of all app stores.
Now that Android has entered the market, it turns out to be Apple's biggest competitor in a long time.
There are already 206.000 apps available for download on the Android Market. At the current growth rate, this app store will surpass Apple this year. Unlike Apple, Android offers developers the freedom to offer apps through other channels. The number of app stores will only continue to grow. The major app stores will collectively generate around 4 billion dollars in revenue this year, 78% more than last year.
Android developer or iPhone developer?
Developers also reap the benefits of App stores themselves. They reach a large audience and incur little to no costs for marketing or hosting, nor do they have to invest in a payment system. The one-time investment is limited. Apple charges $99 per year, while for Android this is $25 per year. Apple has the strictest guidelines that apps must meet before they are approved and included in the App store. As a result, apps and updates become available with a delay. According to Apple, 93% of new apps and 96% of updates are approved within 7 days. Android developers see their app appear in the Android Market almost immediately. The advantage of this is that developers can then quickly respond to problems with their apps. When you buy an app, at the major App stores only 70 percent of the revenue goes to the developer, and the rest goes to the manufacturer.